Welcome
to the sky and ground wave, Water Cooler Frequency
page! The purpose of this page is to communicate the "water
cooler" concept and coordinate the
Amateur Radio frequency that we are monitoring for occasional, quick
chats when we are otherwise engaged in other tasks, but a brief
diversion is welcome!

You know the
moment when you've been at work on a project for hours and you just
have to get up for a minute, grab a drink at the water cooler and
clear your head by enjoying a quick chat with a coworker? I love
working from home, but I sure miss that office diversion.

It turns out
there are lots of other folks who work from home or are home full time
in similar situations. We need quiet to get stuff done,
but every now and then, a few moments of brief conversation are a welcome diversion to clear the cobwebs and enhance productivity.

So, we have
gotten together and chosen 21.446 as a place to meet at our metaphorical
water cooler! It's an otherwise
quiet, out of the way frequency where we can leave our rigs tuned with the
squelch up while we are working. When we need that mental stretch,
we just put out our calls for a quick 5-10 minute good morning / hello
and chat and then get back to work. It's much like monitoring
a 2 meter repeater, but we get to enjoy HF!

15 meters
is working out very well so far. 21.446 is nice and quiet,
so there aren't a lot of distractions for working, but there is
enough propagation to be able to chat with other water cooler folks
to keep things active. The band is unpredictable,
but that is part of the interest and fun. You never know who you
might hear and when!

So, when you are
done tuning around and need to do some other things around the house,
home office or shack, please tune your rig to 21.446, turn up your
squelch, but keep listening.

Every once in while, when you are at
a good stopping point, please throw out your call, or say "YourCall"
at the water cooler! There is no
need to call a long CQ, because we are already there. When
the band is open, someone will be sure to answer!

Let's make 21.446
the place to tune when you are done tuning!

The water
cooler concept is really the unnet (remember the old 7up, uncola
commercials?). What sets the water cooler concept apart from
conventional nets is its spontaneity. With that in mind, for
the Water Cooler's continued success, there are two things that
we each have to do:

1. Throw
out our calls whenever we can (hopefully at least 3 times a day).

2. Listen
and answer others when they do!

For those that
tune to the Water Cooler frequency, throw out their call, don't
get a response and move on, the concept will never work for them.
For those that leave their rig tuned to 21.446 with the squelch
up, get involved in their daily tasks, throw out their calls at
convenient times and answer others when they hear them, lots of
good, fun connections, new friendships and contacts await!

If you like
the water cooler concept, please join our e-mail group and tell a friend, but most of all, please
join us on 21.446! You are very welcome!